Harnessing Web 2.0 tools allows libraries to free information, add value and offer improved services. However, institutional procedures still act as barriers and there is greater need to push services at patrons.

Library 2.0

User-centred change

User participation

Reach new users

Serve existing customers better

At the centre of Library 2.0 is the question of awareness. If content is locked up on websites it will fall by the wayside. I agree with this absolutely and at the moment I would suggest that is what is happening at the academic library where I work. There is no notification of new titles and databases and journals are hard to search although this is being addressed. I still prefer to use Google scholar as a means to access resources as the website is very user unfriendly. Yet the collection is still seen by many as everything and they have become as Seth Godin remarked recently ‘clerks who guard dead paper’.